Ramaphosa promises responsive councillors who won't just sit in offices

11 October 2021 - 15:06
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ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was on the campaign trail in Kimberley on Monday. File photo.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa was on the campaign trail in Kimberley on Monday. File photo.
Image: Supplied

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa took the party's election message to Kimberley in the Northern Cape on Monday, admitting that while it made mistakes in the past, it was self-correcting.

“We are on the march. We are going to win this election,” he told a crowd in Greenpoint, an impoverished area near the Kimberley Airport.

“We are going to improve the lives of all our people here. We know that there's a lot of hardship here and many people do not work. We are going to work very hard so that we can address those problems.”

Speaking in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, Ramaphosa said people in the area had told him they wanted the government to build houses, improve roads and help with the high cost of living.

“The ANC will listen,” he said.

Ramaphosa said as they were going around the country, people were saying they hear the ANC message about improving their lives.

“We are saying yes, we have made mistakes here and there, but now the ANC is improving itself. We are choosing the best candidates who are going to work for our people so that we can build better communities together. The councillors we are now going to appoint are councillors who are going to do their very best.”

He said ANC councillors would be more responsive and those who “wear their ties and suits and sit in their office” were a thing of the past.

“We don't want people who will work for themselves and their pockets, who will also work for their friends and also bring their relatives to the local council. We say no more — we want people who will work for the people of our local municipality.”

Ramaphosa also conducted a door-to-door campaign in the area.

One woman told him about the difficulty of transferring ownership of her house from her mother's to her name. He promised to get her assistance.

Another complained about difficulties in accessing the special Covid-19 social relief of distress grant. It turned out she has been getting some temporary jobs which disqualified her from the grant.

Addressing a crowd later, Ramaphosa said the ANC-led government had tried to secure lives and livelihoods during the pandemic.

“We increased the grants and even introduced a new grant — the R350 a month grant.”

He urged those who were yet to receive the grants to be patient as their applications were still being processed.

TimesLIVE


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